worker

[ wur-ker ]

noun

1. a person or thing that works.
2. a laborer or employee:

   steel workers.

3. a person engaged in a particular field, activity, or cause:

   a worker in psychological research; a worker for the Republican Party.

4. Entomology.
   1. a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped, nonreproductive bees, specialized to collect food and maintain the hive.
   2. a similar member of a specialized caste of ants, termites, or wasps.
5. Printing. one of a set of electrotyped plates used to print from ( molder ² ).
6. any of several rollers covered with card clothing that work in combination with the stripper rollers and the cylinder in the carding of fibers.

worker

/ ˈwɜːkə /

noun

1. a person or thing that works, usually at a specific job

   a good worker

   a research worker

2. an employee in an organization, as opposed to an employer or manager
3. a manual labourer or other employee working in a manufacturing or other industry
4. any other member of the working class
5. a sterile female member of a colony of bees, ants, or wasps that forages for food, cares for the larvae, etc

Derived Forms

• ˈworkerless, adjective

Other Words From

• non·worker noun
• sub·worker noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of worker¹

First recorded in 1300–50, worker is from the Middle English word werker, worcher. See work, -er ¹

Example Sentences

The US and the UK have taken different approaches to helping workers through the Covid-19 pandemic.

From Quartz

From Washington to Berlin, officials are scrambling to find the best ways to help workers.

From Quartz

The pandemic has made Britain’s economy even more British, as workers born in the EU walk away.

From Quartz

That means there are generally enough workers for three to four queens to each lead off a swarm of workers and create new colonies.

From Science News For Students

Unsurprisingly, workers at TransDigm’s companies often feel expendable.

From ProPublica

Farrell issued a ticket to an 18-year-old shipyard worker for speeding and an improper exhaust mechanism, according to the TP.

From The Daily Beast

He expected European capitalism to evolve spontaneously into a market socialism of worker-owned cooperatives.

From The Daily Beast

She is incapable of responding to kindness and enquiry, even very gentle flirting on the part of a co-worker.

From The Daily Beast

Wolf concurs that the conceit of the show seems to have everyone but the sex worker in mind.

From The Daily Beast

“We thought it must be the children playing some game,” a worker at the school told Reuters.

From The Daily Beast

Each seems satisfied with the way his own branch is getting on: Winter is the quicker worker.

From Project Gutenberg

Not more than one adult worker in ten—so at least it might with confidence be estimated—is employed on necessary things.

From Project Gutenberg

As he was a great worker all his life, “Busy,” or “ Benjamin Ceased” would significantly express his death-date.

From Project Gutenberg

A strenuous worker, Mr. Johnstone, like most men who have no hobby, did not long survive his retirement from active business life.

From Project Gutenberg

No true worker, be he digger, or divine, blends real work with either smoking or drinking.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• employee
• laborer
• staff